Creative Process

I recently finished a commission. Several actually, but this one was a bit different. It was based on an actual place, a metal incarnation of someone’s lived experience. A different sort of challenge. A lot of artists get asked to do commissions that amount to can you make this match my couch? I get asked, can you make this match my memory?

[Read more…] about Catch A Butterfly

The barn swallows built a nest above my studio door. They usually build one somewhere along the roofline, but often on the back side where I can’t so easily see it.

For weeks I heard them working as I worked, chittering to each other as they took turns resting on the curved stem of a steel lamp. I’d catch glimpses of them after a morning rain scooping up mouthfuls of mud to do their chinking. One day, once the nest was complete, I saw the boy pick up a down feather recently preened from one of our ducks and give it to the girl to line the nest: Hi honey; I brought you a comforter. 

[Read more…] about Just Imagine

I recently wrote about making the leap and Master Plans. About that plan. Some of you have one, and if you do, that’s great. But if you don’t, it’s easy to get sucked into the notion that you should. It somehow signifies that you’ve got your proverbial crap together, whether it’s your creative work, a small business, a career path, or just life in general.

[Read more…] about Coulds, Shoulds, and Master Plans

This past weekend I had the pleasure of hosting an art show. I invited three artists to share their work in my studio: 

[Read more…] about Let Them